Coming Soon! Four new Leicester offerings
Delilah Fine Foods4 St Martins
A firmly established favourite in Nottingham since 2005, Delilah has been offering a highly regarded deli and cafe which has received excellent local reviews. Credited with stocking one of the best mince pies in Nottingham this Christmas by the Nottingham Post, I am looking forward to having a fine food and wine merchants smack bang in the city centre. Particularly to check out their wine offering, obviously.
On their website they boast that they only source wine from owner-managed wineries, usually small family concerns, so I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to try lots of new things and also perhaps source some wines that I haven’t been able to obtain outside of their place of origin. We shall see.
I can’t find any indication of when they are likely to be open yet, but I have come across some architect’s documents related to their planning application so rest assured it’s all happening!
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| How will they measure against 45 West? |
Hogarth’s Gin Palace
5-9 Hotel Street
Part of the Amber Taverns group, Hogarth’s Leicester is already building a strong suite of supporters on social media, with tantalising glimpses of the renovation of their building posted on Facebook and Twitter, as well as photos, recommendations and tips about all things gin.
It seems an interesting mix to me – the gin-palace-cum-sports-bar. Amber Taverns have clearly been keen to keep their traditional pub audience happy with this part of their range, and I’ll be interested to see what the in-house Hogarth’s ale is all about. The one in Bolton apparently has an on-site microbrewery and stocks over 80 gins, although I’ve seen reviews where people are disappointed that the TVs for showing sport can over-dominate the traditional style decor.
Have you tried one of the other Hogarth’s around the country? How was it?
Middletons Steakhouse & Grill
2 St Martins
Started in Norfolk, Leicester will be the sixth restaurant in the Middleton’s chain. Many of the restaurants seem to have their meat delivered fresh daily from their own butcher in Middleton, Norfolk, so we’ll see what they do about product sourcing here in the city as I hope they’ll be looking for a more local solution and celebrating our own produce!
As you’d expect, the menu is a haven for meat eaters, with a vast menu of steaks, yet more burgers, and a very interesting sea food selection. Personally, I’m interested in having a go at their baked camembert starter which sounds rather delicious, served with sour dough bread. Much has been made of the boom in gourmet burgers in the city, particularly with independent favourites Crafty being just adjacent to Middletons location and with Meatcure and Grillstock just round the corner, we’ll have to see how they fare in the Carnival of the Carnivores. Of course, in my humble opinion, you have to go a long way to beat the steak at Haycock & Tailbar Associates. The gauntlet is firmly down.
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| Can’t even remember who was filming me! |
The Kitchen @ The Cookie
68 High Street
The Cookie has been a fixture on the High Street for a good decade now and I’ve enjoyed seeing them grow and develop from coffee shop in Dominoes to all conquering comedy venue, expansion with the Attic’s cocktail and gin offering and of course for two years featuring one of my own mosaics as their shop sign.
Now owner Katie has hung up her chef’s hat after many years of dedicated service and new kid on the block, Nick Towarianskyj will be running an independent kitchen providing lunch time favourites and after-work treats. I’ve bagged myself an invitation to their VIP launch next week, so watch this space for more details!
Haha, I am synonymous with gin? Could be worse I suppose! Be lovely to see you this week, definitely overdue a catch up!
Exciting stuff! I saw something about the gin place and immediately thought of you Laura! Looking forward to catching up at The Kitchen launch 🙂
Kirstie | Behind The Scent (formerly Kimamely Beauty)